Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Scientists at INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials developed a barrier layer that separates the metal carrier from the absorber film and thus increases the efficiency of metal-based CIGS solar cells.

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface, an achievement that could lead to a new class of faster, more efficient microprocessors, as well as to powerful biochemical sensors that use optoelectronic chips.

In a complex feat of nanoengineering, a team of scientists at Kyoto University and the University of Oxford have succeeded in creating a programable molecular transport system, the workings of which can be observed in real time.

Sandia will help Mexican engineering students learn to design tiny microelectromechanical devices (MEMS), according to a memorandum of understanding recently signed by Sandia and the University of Guadalajara.

Microwires made of silicon have a wide range of possible uses, including the production of solar cells that can harvest much more sunlight for a given amount of material than a conventional solar cell made from a thin wafer of silicon crystal. Now researchers from MIT and Penn State have found a way of producing such wires in quantity in a highly controlled way that could be scaled up to an industrial-scale process, potentially leading to practical commercial applications.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher Dr. Taleb Mokari, a member of the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, has been awarded a prestigious Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research. Dr. Mokari received the Prize for his work on developing novel nanostructures for renewable energy applications.

The Micro- and Nanotechnology Research Group of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya has produced silicon photovoltaic cells with a conversion efficiency of 20.5%, the highest level achieved in Spain using this material.

The human olfactory system possesses a special electric amplification mechanism that enables olfactory cells to respond even to extremely weak stimuli. Scientists at Heidelberg University have now established how this mechanism works.

On Feb. 17, Penn President Amy Gutmann will join University Trustees and the deans of the Schools of Arts and Sciences (SAS) and Engineering and Applied Science at the 3200 block of Walnut Street for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology.

An interdisciplinary team of UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz researchers is taking a novel approach to solar power, one that promises to lead to a technological breakthrough. By using nanoparticles of germanium, silicon and other materials, the researchers hope to produce solar cells far more efficient than the current state of the art.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a biohybrid photoconversion system -- based on the interaction of photosynthetic plant proteins with synthetic polymers -- that can convert visible light into hydrogen fuel.

In a paradox typical of the quantum world, JILA scientists have eliminated collisions between atoms in an atomic clock by packing the atoms closer together. The surprising discovery can boost the performance of experimental atomic clocks made of thousands or tens of thousands of neutral atoms trapped by intersecting laser beams.